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Anyone dabble in poetry? Although I began writing a bit of verse last spring, I have rarely worked up the nerve to show the results to anyone. I guess I am wondering if anyone would be interested in…Continue

I am very pleased to announce that my new novel, a young adult fantasy set in a future America in the oppressive grip of Christian fundamentalists (who are the story's villains), will be brought out…Continue

Big Pictures of Small OnesThere's that bad boy persona/attraction; he's just being himself, embedded in a ginormous crystal with flaws and visible but blurry histories.Mindfulness and mindfullness…Continue

Most people who don't write themselves or who don't know any full-time writers imagine that when writers spend five or six (or eight or ten) hours in their attics or garages or studies every day they…Continue

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Well, the trip wouldn't induce a miscarriage. Nor would the little guy be "premature." If she's at nine months, then she's ready to give birth any time the biology kicks in. I can imagine that giving birth under most circumstances back in the year zero might be problematic for all kinds of reasons. At home on a mat of straw, on the road, in a manger, what's the difference?

Classic link! You might have heard of her - she's called Mary. She gave birth to some bloke called Jeb.., no, Jesus!

Basically, I am writing a comprehensive look at the historicity of the nativity narratives. I am looking to mention how unlikely it is a loving husband would make a 9 month pregnant woman do a gruelling 80 walk to Bethlehem for a census that did not require her (or them), or to ask her to sit on a donkey. i would like to know, medically speaking, what would likely happen. Would there be a miscarriage, or an immediate birth? Would she likely make that distance? etc etc.

Johno, as somebody whop makes this sort of request often, let me suggest that a little more story context might be welcome. When and where might have a bearing on advice you may find useful. The nature of the woman's plight or situation (and character) could help inform a response. What is she like? Is she like this woman?

The funeral march chimes on in the back ground the streets are so somber lost in the profound foolishness of life

Living so that we may meet death face to face what cowards we are as we sit in our houses made of glass trying so desperately not to break. The days grow tiresome and the nights seem to have no end, the age of man appears as though it will never end we are but vessels loomed from the fabric of nonsense what a bleak existence one faces when the curtain falls and light can be shed into the bowels of reality no longer does the air taste so sweet it has been tainted with bitterness that comes with living we see it each day and yet try to avoid it; our minds preoccupied with thoughts of nothing, daydreaming to escape the caulis inconvenience we call life, merely to find when the daydream ends we still are never truly awake all that surrounds us is lucid watching from a far as everything we have created crumbles and falls apart before our very eyes, the only tangible in life is the thought that I will not live forever I may hold on to that for it has been built upon a foundation that no logic can crack

Yet again the bell tolls and it reminds us that the hour of everlasting darkness grows nearer what a cruel fate to count the minutes on a clock dreading, fearing, the moment when the hands of time no longer move for you, oh what a divine comedy it is to watch when man has no other option but to abandon his faith

Where may one go to escape from the world, does such place even exist? I have envisioned myself running in the wild where the warm rays of the sun always shine and I am free from the prison of reality, a place where my thoughts, ideas, emotions, and conscious can run wild across the vast fields of possibility. An endless utopia of clarity, how I wish that place was real

What about the unseen stars? I'm sure they try just as hard, to shine as bright as they can. For me to stop living my ignorant life and admire them. So bright they are. So far yet so close to touching them as if you could lift your hand and leave this life behind, to explore something totally different, but the only place i leave is my mind. The stars give us the honor of gazing upon them while they are still here. Almost gone forever, they are our creators. They teach us and show us the inevitability of death. For the lessons and beauty i thank the stars, universe, cosmos, my creators. My destroyers, bringers of death to my insignificant life.

Here's the preface to my book "Moses was a Liar" (Raider Books NY 2010):

"People have an apparent and sometimes almost insatiable need for ‘ekstasis’ or ecstasy, to give meaning to their lives. This so-called ‘stepping outside’ finds expression in many ways such as music, dance, sport, sex and sadly in drug- and alcohol-abuse as well. It can also be found in religious fervour, attending religious gatherings in churches, mosques and synagogues, Satan worship; participating in secret societies, group activities and community projects. It also forms an important basis for joining radical groups, labour movements, political meetings, and for fundamentalism and radicalism.

It is not strange therefore that the emotional expression and participation in these activities can become addictive or that the expectations of what benefits are to be derived from such activities, are often totally unrealistic and indeed silly.

It is not evil or abnormal for people to have this need, it is merely human. However, when the derived and perceived benefits impinge upon reason and one’s grasp of reality, it becomes problematic. Unfortunately there are no boundaries drawn by those who promote such participation. In fact it is probably the opposite.

Mysticism and its attendant practices – which include religion, and political activities creates its own “realities”, e.g. false standards, guilt where no guilt exists, external deities and magic powers.

Mysticism is the ultimate primacy of emotions over reality and reason and when the human need for ‘ekstasis’ overrides reality and reason, one enters the realm of the unreal and indeed of the actual surrender of man’s mind to the ceremonial reverence of objects, deities, visions and external influence. Primitive man used emotions to create his own ‘platonic reality’ (Reality is what the mind thinks or imagines.

Homo dialogicus (reasoning or thinking man) on the other hand reflects a critical consciousness which explains man’s capacity to reason and question anything in terms of its opposite. It implies that s/he can question issues of importance, evaluate alternatives and make choices of his/her own. Such a mind is light years away from the mind of primitive man who relies on imagination but does not grasp the implications that he does so and who creates an own reality, a false reality.

When myth and legend become inextricably intertwined through the application of emotions with reality, consciousness and evaluating alternatives, it is no wonder then that people become confused and are unable to make reasoned and rational choices in life. It is this confusion which leads to control and manipulation; it is this lack of the conscious will of man to distinguish between the real and the unreal; this illogical preparedness to accept what he is fed through the controlled media, from religious- and political platforms which is promoted by the mystics of the world, by the religions and by the political leaders. It is time for homo dialogicus to stand up and say: ‘Enough is enough, get out of our way.’

This book was written in honour of homo dialogicii, wherever they are.

Those members here who are seriously yearning for some regular online discussion about writing, publishing, agents, strategies, tips, and so on and so on may be interested in joining up over at AbsoluteWrite.com

This site is huge. There are even discussions devoted to godless writers and subjects, but primarily the site is for active writers and poets of all creative abilities and interests. For that reason there's a lot of bullshit to sort through, but there's a lot of exceptionally smart and helpful advice and support there, too. It may take a new member some weeks of lurkerish investigation before he will figure out where to make contributions and ask questions, but really for dedicated writers who lack academic or professional support elsewhere, AbsoluteWrite is the place to be.